A CBR volunteer answers a student’s questions about Christianity and graphic images.

It seems Campbell University has strayed further from its Christian roots than we initially thought. One CBR volunteer adequately summarized the harsh reality of our time there, ” I felt like I spent more time defending the Gospel than I did defending babies.”

If she could, she’d ask not to be killed. CBR Staffer Joanna was left bewildered by one student’s questions: “Is the baby saying ‘don’t kill me? Are they asking not to be killed?” Common sense tells us, that a tiny baby in the womb is not talking, but a violent death would certainly be something she would not want.

Sarcasm fail. “God!! Go away!! I’m on my way to get an abortion!” We were left saddened by the woman’s callous remarks, and earnestly prayed that her words were nothing more than an insensitive attempt at humor.

Looking forward to Hell?  Sarah proudly proclaimed, “I am an atheist. I plan to be in hell after I die. I am looking forward to it. I don’t care much for my life.” She “danced” with CBR Staffer Jane Bullington as she attempted to cover up our photographs with her jacket.

Christian college hides pro-life support.  A jogger stopped to encourage us: “We have 10 children. Thanks for what you are doing. There is a lot of support on campus but the school is trying to keep that under cover.”

Shocking reality on Christian campuses.  A female student boldly admitted: “There is no intention to lead people to the Lord here. There are so many non-believers, yet our classes either ignore faith or teach heresy. I complained about the “Overview to Christianity” curriculum to the professor and she said to take it up with the administration. In my 5 classes this semester, I bet 70% are lost.”

Despite the information age, ignorance still exists.  At a very minimum, showing college students the reality of abortion silences those who deny that it is an act of violence. A young man audaciously claimed that, “All abortions are done by C-section; no baby is ripped apart,” all whilst standing in front of our photos.

A student attempts to cover-up the truth about abortion.

In Fall 2019, CBR also visited Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina during our Revival Project Tour. We spent three days engaging with the campus community about abortion and ultimately, the Gospel.

Check out press coverage of our visit:

•  Abortion protestors visit our campus recently – Campbell Now News
•  Campbell Now News – October 16th, 2019

Our first visit to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) was eye-opening. One would hope that on a Christian campus there would be more students and professors who were encouraging than unsupportive. That was not the case at SEBTS. Folks, we are losing the abortion war in the Church, in large part because our Christian colleges and seminaries are graduating pro-abortion students. However, not all hope is lost. Mixed in with the ugly, we saw glimmers of God’s grace at SEBTS.

Seminary students see how abortion grieves the heart of God.

“Babies go to heaven anyway.” Joanna was taken aback by this student’s comments, but started asking questions, hoping for a meaningful conversation. At the end, he said he appreciated her and felt like, “God was speaking to me through you.”

Save a child’s life by ending it? Logic and reasoning are not a strong point amongst today’s college students. Regardless of whether it is a secular campus or a Christian one, students argue that children should be aborted in the womb because they “will die anyway from a hard life.” CBR Staffer Mik’aela Raymond was ready when one student made such a bold presumption: “We don’t believe in killing children so that they won’t die.”

Mom mystery. A mom walked up with her elementary school aged child and began showing her daughter the photos. We were sure she was on our side and wanted her daughter to know the truth of abortion. But in fact, “I used to be pro-life until I grew up and got smarter. I’ve had an abortion. I know friends who wish they had aborted their disabled child.” We need to be praying for this mom and her young family.

Women need to see before it’s too late. “I had two abortions without seeing pictures in the womb. I was on my way to abort my 3^rd but decided to have my son.” CBR Staffer Joanna asked her if these pictures would have stopped her from aborting her first two children. “Probably,” she said.

So much for “love your neighbor.” On our second day a man approached and yelled, “You people are what is wrong with the world. Someone needs to punch you all in the face.”

“Scripture is enough; people don’t need these graphic pictures.” After talking about the history of social reform and Christians continuing to have abortions in spite of pastors who talk about abortion, CBR volunteer Laurice encouraged the man who claimed this to show the truth in conjunction with his preaching, so lives would be saved. He softened and walked away, saying he would do his research.

A mom stops to show her daughter the hand of an aborted child. She later told us, “I used to be pro-life, but then I grew up and got smarter.”

As part of our Revival Project Tour in Fall 2019, CBR stopped by the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to talk to Christian students about modern-day child sacrifice. Though not on the campus grounds, our location on the sidewalks directly in front of the main entrance allowed us ample visibility.

Check out press coverage of our visit:

• NC town warns residents of graphic anti-abortion photos as demonstrators arrive.
•  Group to display ‘graphic pictures of aborted children’ in Wake Forest, town says

Hundreds of students are shown the reality of “Choice” in between classes.

Once again, our recent visit to Chapel Hill exposed many a “tolerant” college student to be less supportive of the free speech, and more “if I don’t like what you have to say, I have the right to yell, hit, and destroy.”

Even though many students were angry, they ended up attracting even more students to the display. These calmer students quietly observed the pictures and began wondering if abortion is as clear-cut at they thought.

Dead child, better parent? “I aborted my child with Down Syndrome because of the life it would have had. I think my husband and I are better parents because of the abortion.” This woman told CBR staffer Joshua Lindsey that her profession, ironically, involves working with people with special needs.

Abortion hurts men, too. A mild-mannered man wanted to know if there are truly any women who want a strong man in their life. “On this campus, women don’t seem to want a man to speak anything into their lives.” This gentleman raised an interesting, yet sad point – with abortion, fatherhood is sometimes taken from a man who is willing to be there for his family.

A path toward healing. Two women approached the Free Speech Board, one crying and one comforting. The first was post-abortive and needed a hug, the love of Jesus, and post-abortion materials. They received all three, and left, late for class. Praise God the truth of GAP was an impetus toward healing for this young woman.

Thank God her mom didn’t think the same way. A young woman boldly proclaimed, “I would be more concerned about pushing an 8 pound baby out of my body, breaking bones and stretching skin than anything else.”

CBR sets up along Wall Street for the morning rush hour

New York legislators passed a diabolical law legalizing abortion through birth, and it was signed by Governor Cuomo on January 22, 2019. Consequently, we traveled to New York City in May to show the public exactly what their government had approved. One of our signs showed Gov. Cuomo’s photo next to that of an aborted baby with the caption “Gov. Andrew Cuomo 3261 weeks following fertilization. Baby Jane Doe 24 weeks following fertilization.” We hoped that by exposing the insanity of aborting a viable, third trimester baby (something most people already agree is wrong), we could make people consider the possibility that aborting younger babies is just as wrong.

CBR shows the face of infanticide to university students in NY.

We began our activism in New York City at Focus on the Family’s Times Square event. Focus staff members were so unhappy they told us they did not want us displaying abortion victim images near their event. We politely ignored their request. We were able to reach thousands of pro-lifers, as well as countless tourists who frequent Times Square.
Our NYC tour continued at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York University in Greenwich Village, and Columbia University in the Upper West Side. We received the typical span of reactions from these college students, even at Fordham, which still claims to be a Catholic (albeit Jesuit) institution. At NYU, one passerby was so angry he defaced our “All Black Lives Matter, Born and Unborn” sign with a permanent marker.

Our next target was the New York Stock Exchange. Not only could we reach some of the most influential policy makers in the country, we could reach people from all over the world. Wall Street was a steady stream of people, from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. It is safe to say they had never seen such graphically disruptive imagery as passersby seemed stunned and speechless.

We ended our Big Apple expedition back near Times Square outside Fox News Headquarters. NYPD sent out their Counter-Terrorism officers, but they were respectful and, in some instances, even helpful. New York City is a particularly dangerous place for preborn babies; it has the highest abortion rate in the entire nation, with 37% of pregnancies ending in abortion. Gov. Cuomo has declared that there is no place in New York for opponents of abortion, but with your help, we proved him wrong. We can’t allow any public official to advocate infanticide and then tell us we have no right to call him out for promoting such atrocities.

If one good thing came out of this evil law, it was that many “fence sitters” now see the other side for what it really is: pro-abortion, on demand, until birth (and maybe even after birth), for any reason, or no reason at all. Join us in praying that God, in His mercy, will convict the hard-hearted legislators and others who celebrate and promote abortion. God hears the prayers of repentant sinners, and as He promised to the Israelites, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

Students flocked to GAP in between classes. Many had never seen what it is that abortion does to a baby.

Fall 2019 was full to the brim with eventful campus visits…to say the least. We hosted the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in October, where the student body came out in swarms to see our display.

Check out press coverage of our visit:

•  Anti-abortion exhibit spurs counter-protests from campus activists
•  Maya Little arrested Monday after group protesting abortion came to campus
•  Doctoral student Maya Little arrested by UNC Police

A student protests GAP at ECU.

In October 2019, CBR headed to Greenville, North Carolina for a return visit to East Carolina University. We captured the attention of the campus for the two days with our Genocide Awareness Project.

Check out the press coverage of our visit:

•  Anti-abortion display should have been reconsidered
• Group calls abortion ‘genocide’ at ECU

CBR Staffer Maggie Ferrara answers the “rape” question.

Our first visit to The College of William & Mary (W&M) in historic Williamsburg, Virginia shook the campus.  Thousands of students and faculty saw the truth of abortion for the first time, and they could not stop talking about it.

Check out press coverage of our visit:

• Protests, while distressing, emphasize supportive, kind collegiate student body
• Upsetting protests offer poor reflection of pro-life movement, harm students
•  William and Mary students hold counter-protest during anti-abortion demonstration
• Wed April 24, 2019. Letter written by David Scheeveil of James City County.  Mr. Scheeveil writes a letter to the editor of the Virginia Gazette in response to SaraRose Martin’s article (see above).
  • “Why is it that the protest side of events and issues gets the headlines and becomes the focus of stories published and promoted by the news media? Isn’t it correct to say that the event of that day was a pro-life demonstration? Why couldn’t there have been a title to this article like ‘Pro-life group holds anti-abortion demonstration at W&M’? Then if you wanted to say something about the fact that protesters to the event also rallied to voice their concerns with the display, that’s fair game. I just get a little tired of always seeing the liberal perspective being the headlines.”
• W&M’s pro-life student organization, Tribe for Life, released a statement on Facebook in opposition to CBR’s demonstration:
  • “We have spoken directly with the Center, asking them to refrain from demonstrating at W&M. Please know that Tribe for Life is in no way associated with it.”

A CBR Volunteer shares God’s heart for the unborn.

In Spring 2019, we headed to Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee as part of our new Revival Project.

Check out the press coverage of our visit:

• Lee Students for Life meet in the wake of graphic anti-abortion demonstrations
• Pro-Life group holds anti-abortion demonstration, met with Lee student counter protest
•  Anti-abortion activists visit Lee University campus

Lincoln Brandenburg crosses the cultural divide to deliver a basic truth about human rights.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

One of the intriguing aspects of GAP is speaking with students from foreign lands.  Few have seen free speech like we do it.  When we brought GAP to Tennessee Tech University, our team spoke with several students from the Middle East.

CBR staffer Lincoln Brandenburg saw a young Middle Eastern man staring at the GAP signs, so he walked over and asked what the man thought.  Lincoln pointed to the pictures and asked, “Is it moral to have a child decapitated and dismembered like this?”

The young man didn’t think abortion was a good thing but emphasized that “it should still be the woman’s choice; we can’t force her not to.”  To him, it was a simple matter of not violating the rights of others, whether of not we agree with their decisions.

Lincoln and the young man discussed the humanity of the pre-born child and it’s implications.  Brandenburg pointed out that laws against hiring a hitman to kill one’s bothersome spouse also a man’s “rights.”  But such actions are innately at odds with the foundational right, and that is the right to live.  Without that basic human right, all other rights are meaningless.

If, as science confirms, the preborn child is human in the same way that her mother is human, then doesn’t decapitating and dismembering her violate her human rights?

As the men spoke, Lincoln frequently pointed back to the pictures of the abortion victims.  Before heading to class, the student shook his hand and told him: “You’ve really made me change my mind.  I realize that there’s more to this issue than I originally thought.”

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

by Maggie Egger

Michelle, co-president of SFL at OU, speaks with a fellow student during GAP.

During GAP at Oakland University (OU) in March, a young man approached our display, then quickly became very emotional.  He stepped back from the crowd and started yelling that women should have the choice to abort, because they could be in really terrible situations, and we can’t judge their particular circumstances.

Then it became personal.  He said when his mom was in college, with a promising career ahead of her, she became pregnant by a man who was not much more than a casual hook-up.  She dropped out of school and sacrificed her career to care for him, the unplanned pregnancy.  He said she was miserable because of it.  She married his father, but they went on to have an abusive and dysfunctional marriage and family.  By this point, the young man was crying and his voice started to shake.  He said that he wished that his mom had aborted him, because then maybe she would have had a chance at a better, happier life.

Then Michelle Anderson, co-president of OU Students for Life, stepped forward.  She said, “I’m sorry that you had to go through that as a kid, and that your mom had to go through that.  But I’m so glad she didn’t abort you.  I am so glad that you’re here today.  We value your life, no matter how it came to be.  You are valuable and you are loved.”  They continued talking quietly for a little while.  He calmed down significantly, and before he left I heard Michelle say, “Can I give you a hug?”  He accepted.

I observed several interesting things in this encounter.  First, Michelle’s demeanor was so calm and loving, it completely diffused a very emotionally charged situation.  Second, she didn’t try to debate abortion.  That’s not what this young man needed to hear at that moment.  Third, the reaction of the pro-abortion protesters was perhaps the most depressing and disturbing thing that I’ve seen on campus in a while.

The young man started off with the slogan of “personal choice” and of course the pro-abortion protesters cheered this.  However, when he said he wished his mother had aborted him, most of them took their reasoning to its logical conclusion and continued to agree with him.  In essence they were saying to him, “We wouldn’t care if you were dead.”  That’s the mindset that we encounter in people who have, for decades, reduced the preborn to mere clumps of cells, instead of whole, distinct, living, valuable, human persons.  And while that mindset is depressing, when it is juxtaposed with the pro-life view, the result can be encouraging.  After all, if everyone always valued all life from fertilization to natural death, it would be no big deal for Michelle to tell that young man that she values his life, not only in that moment, but from the very first moment of his existence.

Maggie Egger is a CBR Project Director in Virginia and a regular FAB(ulous) contributor.

Anna Maher and another SFL member talk about “choice” with a GMU student. They use a CBR “Choice” sign because they know the word has no meaning without the photo.

Social reformers like William Wilberforce and Dr. Martin Luther King knew they must avoid, at all costs, one particular sin.  They could not allow themselves to be ignored.  They could be unpopular, but they could not be irrelevant.

Anna Maher explains how she is forcing students to think about abortion at George Mason University (GMU):

Since having GAP 2 years ago at George Mason University, we aren’t popular on campus … but everyone knows who we are.  Our last event was packed out.

Not only did they display GAP, the GMU Students for Life regularly display hand-held “Choice” signs.  What an inspiration for all of us!

This photo was taken earlier this month. We thank God for young warriors like these!

The Good: George Mason University (GMU) earns an A for handling a number of competing interests in conjunction with our visit earlier this week.  The Bad: We are not happy that it has taken 8 months for Students for Life to become registered as a student group, so that they can enjoy the same rights as other groups on campus.  The Ugly: Because the Students for Life group wasn’t allowed to even discuss event planning for the past 8 months, a conflict was created that could have been avoided.

Organizing a Student Group.  At GMU, recognized student groups can do things that individuals and non-recognized groups can’t do, such as reserve space, host events, etc.  It’s a big deal.  Recognition requires that the students find a faculty sponsor (i.e., a university employee) to sanction their club.  If you can’t find a sponsor from the eligible pool of university employees, you have fewer rights (unless you are willing to challenge the system in court, which we would do if we had to).

Finding a leftist professor is easy.  Although liberals comprise only 20% of the American population, they are 72% of all college professors.  Finding a conservative professor is much harder, especially one that has tenure and isn’t job-scared.

This whole system can create a burden that would never survive a judicial review.  How could any attorney argue that the university doesn’t discriminate against conservative students, it’s the university employees (i.e., the faculty) who discriminate, and the university can’t be held accountable for the actions of their employees!  It would never fly, but how many students really understand how to fight back?

Because the Students for Life couldn’t get registered, they couldn’t even talk to event planning staff about planning GAP, reserving space, or anything else.  Finally, as the end of the school year approached, we were out of options.  We chose a date and notified GMU that we had been invited by students, registered or not, and we were determined to accept.

Space assigned. After receiving our letter, GMU assigned us a location on Central Johnson Plaza to erect the GAP display.  The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning (LGBTQ) group had reserved East Johnson Plaza (a better space) for Pride Week 2012 activities, which is fine.  It is common for concurrent activities to share the East Plaza, but the LGBTQ group had reserved the entire East Plaza for their exclusive use, so we were offered the next-most desirable space, which was still visible to most passersby.  (See map below.)

However, the LGBTQ group was none too happy that the pro-life students had been granted space within view of East Plaza.  They needed only part of East Plaza for their activity, but they wanted everything in sight.  We absolutely respect the right of any student group to reserve space for whatever activity they would like to hold, but one group of students shouldn’t be able to reserve their own space and also reserve away everybody else’s rights.

First Amendment good for all. Meanwhile, the Patriots for Choice student group, who came out to protest GAP, were initially assigned space way down on the West Plaza, which might as well have been on another planet.  We lobbied for them to be granted better space.  For the First Amendment to mean anything, it belongs to all of us, so we must defend that freedom for even our fiercest foe.  Eventually, GMU officials allowed the pro-abortion students to move up to a better location.  In fact, they occupied space on the East Plaza, previously reserved by the LGBTQ group.  Seems they are allied in opposition to the pro-lifers.  We welcomed that move.

Sound. On Day 2, we would like to have set up our sound equipment for Open Mike.  This GAP kiosk allows anybody to pose a question to CBR and hear the answer.  Speakers amplify the sound for any crowd that might gather.  Unfortunately, amplified sound tends to disregard space reservations and just fly all over the place.  Being good citizens, we didn’t believe we could broadcast sound that might interfere with the prior reservation held by the LGBTQ group, so we decided not to do it.  We hope that we can return for an Open Mike session during a future Choice Chain event.

What the parties needed, reserved, wanted, and got.

Virginia Director Nicole Cooley can speak of her experience; the photos speak of the baby's experience.

On Thursday, we wrapped up our trip to Radford University in Radford, Virginia.  CBR Virginia Project Director Nicole Cooley spoke with many students who asked questions and concluded by saying that we had changed their minds.  She said she told her story of rape, abortion, and healing more often than ever before.

We were covered by the Roanoke Times, both here and here.

WDBJ-TV, which had reported earlier in the week on our visit to Liberty U, did a very slanted hit piece on our visit to Radford.  Although one-sided reporting is SOP for the national media, local media are usually much more even-handed in their reporting.  In all our years of being covered by local media, this was only the second story that could easily have been written by Planned Parenthood.  The other was in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2004, where a TV station covering our Key States Initiative referred to us as “anti-choice extremists.”

Perhaps we are naive at FAB, but we give you the benefit of the doubt.  You have to be really bad for us to notice.  This time, we noticed.  Not one of our people were interviewed for the WDBJ-TV story about our visit to Radford; only the pro-aborts were interviewed.  We offered to speak with them; they weren’t interested.  They also didn’t take note of our poll table, in which the results were fairly evenly divided between pro-life and pro-abortion.  Not good reporting … good comedy, though.

Meanwhile, back at Liberty U, we continued to reach students.  WSET-TV covered our continuing presence.  We placed several of our Scripture signs along a pedestrian route from dorms to the main part of campus.  More to come!

Signs at Liberty University Bookstore expose the reality of abortion.